Innovate for Good

In 2016, Rose Community Foundation launched a philanthropic challenge to answer the question, What idea could you bring to life to empower youth to make the community better? The effort awarded $250,000 in grants and support to implement the winning ideas.

A total of ten projects were awarded the grants. Four of these projects were youth awardees, or ideas submitted and implemented by youth in our community, and six were youth-adult partnerships. The youth projects each received $5,000 in support, and the youth-adult partnerships each received $30,000.

Winning Projects

Youth Awardees

artsC, East High School Theatre Students
Offering youth tools to explore difficult social issues in a safe, honest and compelling way. Watch a video about this project.

Youth-Adult Partnership Awardees

Community Interpreters Project, Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning
Training refugee and immigrant teens as interpreters for their families and communities.Watch a video about this project.

Empowering Native Youth in Metro Denver, Spirit of the Sun, Inc.
Engaging Native youth from across the Greater Denver community in a leadership conference.Watch a video about this project.

Neighborhood Harvest: Youth-Built Gardens, GreenLeaf
Empowering youth to help residents of Northeast Denver create home gardens to grow vegetables.Watch a video about this project.

Thunderbolts Building Bridges, Lainie Hodges and student leaders from Manual High School
Building relationships between students at Manual High School and law enforcement.Watch a video about this project.

Youth-Led Bicycle Repair Workshop, Westwood Unidos
Creating a youth-led and youth-staffed bicycle library and repair workshop in the Westwood neighborhood.Watch a video about this project.

The Relationships You Deserve: A Multi-Media Project, Project PAVE
Creating a film and multi-media campaign to educate teens about breaking the cycle of relationship violence.Watch a video about this project.

Teens Helping Teens – Natural Helpers Project, Aurora Welcome Center
Creating a curriculum and training for immigrant and refugee youth to become peer mentors on social and cultural issues.Watch a video about this project.

History of Innovate for Good

Innovate for Good, a philanthropic challenge to find and fund new ideas, was created in 2015 by Rose Community Foundation. In its first year, nearly 400 ideas were submitted by people, nonprofits, businesses, government and community groups in response to the question, “What new and innovative idea would you bring to life to make the Greater Denver community a better place to live?” After a community review process, nine winners were awarded funds totaling $250,000 to make their projects happen.

2015 Winners

Bright by Text
Submitted by: Bright by Three (formerly Bright Beginnings)
An educational text-messaging system that sends parents evidence-based tips to support the development of very young children. This iteration will expand to also provide parents with localized community resources and information.Watch a video about their project.

Clean River Design Challenge
Submitted by: The Greenway Foundation
A design competition for students attending Metro State University of Denver, created as a mechanism to remove trash from the South Platte River.Watch a video about their project.

Creative Youth Take Flight – La Alma Connection
Submitted by: Arts Street
Underserved youth will learn about urban design, creative placemaking and economic development by producing a master art plan and public art series encouraging pedestrian use of the light rail and 10th Avenue, in the La Alma neighborhood.Watch a video about their project.

Fresh Food Connect
Submitted by: Groundwork Denver
The Fresh Food Connect application (app) will feed families, reduce waste and provide income to low-income youth by allowing home gardeners to donate extra produce for distribution at food banks and through affordable sale. The app will connect gardeners to youth who will be employed to pick up and deliver donated produce using bikes and trailers.Watch a video about their project.

Race, Policing and Community Justice Advocates
Submitted by: Shorter Community AME Church
This program will forge a partnership with other community stakeholders to engage high school kids in becoming peer presenters in the areas of racial equality, community awareness based policing and justice advocacy work.Watch a video about their project.

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot
Submitted by: Denver Center for the Performing Arts
This “food truck for the arts” will provide affordable, high quality theatrical performances to high school students in school parking lots followed by actor-led workshops to support classroom teaching and learning.Watch a video about their project.

The Stompin’ Ground Games
Submitted by: Warm Cookies of the Revolution
The Stompin’ Ground Games is a monthly, year-long Olympics-style competition between Denver neighborhoods where arts, culture and history are combined in the name of civic pride and engagement.Watch a video about their project.

Veterans in Food Deserts
Submitted by: Denver Botanic Gardens
Military veterans will help grow and sell fresh produce and share knowledge about planting, harvesting and nutrition through farm stands in neighborhoods with limited access to healthy foods.Watch a video about their project.

Workshop on Wheels
Submitted by: Be the Gift
A workshop on wheels truck will be outfitted with all of the tools and materials ‘Be the Gift’ volunteers need to complete home repair projects for single mom families.Watch a video about their project.

Community partners – CoBiz Bank and 9News – helped us make this unique program possible in 2015 and 2016.